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Katie is shown to have a good life as a sixteen-year old teenager, having a good relationship with her parents. She has a particularly strong relationship with her aunt Rachel, often confiding in her. She was also known to have a good relationship with cousin Aidan who saw her as his best friend and was greatly affected by her sudden death, although he did not show it. Katie is shown to be quite intelligent, commenting on her trivial knowledge of television to her friend Becca. She was known to be popular in school, having a boyfriend Josh Turnadot which was a secret to her parents and family. She is terrified by the video curse and displays her more vulnerable and fearful side when Samara comes calling on her final day.

A week before the events of the film, Katie went to Shelter Mountain Inn for the weekend with boyfriend Josh and friends Scott Conroy and Stacey Nyugen. It is implied that Katie and Josh slept together during their stay. Staying in Cabin 12, the group attempted to record of a football match on a blank, unmarked video cassette but instead found the footage of Samara's video on the tape when they played it back and became the first known victims of the tape. The group appeared to flee the cabin, the innkeeper of Shelter Mountain commenting that they did not pay. The video tape was left in the reception.

Over the next seven days, Katie was haunted by visions of the curse, drawing images in a sketchbook and scribbled all over a fashion magazine, giving the models within the appearance of Samara. At some point, she met Aidan for the last time and hinted that she may die, having a profound affect on Aidan.

On her seventh day, Katie appeared to act like nothing had happened and spent time with her friend Becca. Becca tells her of the rumour of the video tape, horrifying Katie. Katie fakes her death to tease Becca and hints that she and Josh slept together. The telephone suddenly rings, Becca realising Katie was telling the truth. The two venture to answer the phone, Becca answering it and finds Katie's mother Ruth Embry on the line. She passes the phone to Katie and heads back upstairs. Katie talks to her mother on the phone for a short time and then heads back to her bedroom only for the lounge television to turn on. Katie believes Becca turned it on as a tease but finda the television remote untouched. She turns off the television only for it to turn itself back on. Panicked, Katie pulls out the plug, and sees a figure behind her in the television's reflection.

Katie finds the freezer door open, closes it and hears a noise from upstairs. Venturing to the bottom of the staircase and fumbling with her fingers, she calls to Becca but no response comes. Rushing upstairs, Katie finds water flooding into the hall from under her door. She nervously opens the door, finding the image of the well on her television screen. Katie screams as the camera zooms towards her, presumably from Samara's point of view, killing her. Becca witnessed her death and later went to a mental hospital. Ruth finds Katie's corpse in her bedroom closet, with a deformed face and her mouth obscured.

Aidan who was partially aware of Katie's death, drew pictures of her buried underground several days before her death. Three days later, Katie's funeral was held and her aunt Rachel learnt of the video tape, leading to her investigation of the video tape.

Amber Tamblyn went on to star in another American adaptation of a Japanese horror film, The Grudge 2 (or Ju-On 2) in Japan. She starred as the main character Aubrey pursued by Kayako Saeki who is quite similar to Samara.

Along with Regan MacNeil/Pazuzu of the Exorcist movies, Katie (more specifically, her face as she is being killed by Samara) is a popular character/image used in Internet screamers.